I know you must be getting fed up of me but I have another question. Sleeping in a pop up.

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70321

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We are almost there but had a bit of a "hold on" moment today. So...we almost have decided. We feel we do want pop up space to sleep in if we want - or store stuff up there overnight when we are sleeping downstairs. Has anyone slept in a Hymer Sprinter pop up? Spent a long time searching you tube etc and haven't seen anyone climbing up that ladder and getting in there. Thank you.
 
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I don’t know the answer either, but you fire away, it’s an expensive purchase, so you crack on, glean as much info from as many people who will offer you advice, there’s some very experienced camper, and motorhome owners on here, nobody will mind?
 
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No not even seen a sprinter pop top, well not that I remember. did tryout a few pvcs with beds in the roof, getting up there was awkward and I felt claustrophobic, although i never did in an overcab. Think, when you get the chance, you really need to spend some time in one acting out how you would spend your time and trying out a pop top bed. Friends with a California did use the bed in the pop top, he slept there she slept on the rock and roll.
Enjoy your search, we looked for a couple of years before buying just before we retired.
After much research and going to put a deposit on a pvc we came bak having bought a brand new 6 berth coachbuilt, and no we didn't change it within the first year as being wrong, only changed to get one with a garage for a bike, as that was more suited to how we were using the van.
 
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First van was a Ford with a pop top. If you use the rock and roll bed couldn't get in the fridge and almost no room for pull out loo.
Sleep up top loads of room, but dodgy going up and down ladder also cold in bad weather and if raining canvas gets wet so you fold it down to move on and it's on top of your bed.
But the main problem that sealed the vans fate was lack of head room and I'm only 5'
 
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As an example the Hymer Grand Canyon is a Mercedes Sprinter and available with a PoP Top, to me all these PoP Tops are like climbing in to the loft climb the ladder and place your ass carefully on the bed, I'm sure they are all the same.

The only way to know if this is for you is to try one

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Can't help with the pop top bit, but when designing my van with a high bed, I went to a MH show to try getting in & out of one
Getting in was easy, getting out required laying face down & sliding backwards towards the ladder

Whilst I normally only get up once a night for a wee, that design was abandoned immediately ?

Also, I am of the opinion there is little difference between a pop top and a tent - if the good lord had intended me too sleep in a tent, he wouldn't have invented motorhomes or hotels?
 
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We traded in our last moho because we had to get down a ladder from the rear raised, fixed bed to go for a leak at night.

I would not have another bed that required a ladder. You need to be yound and supple IMHO

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Nasher said:
Can't help with the pop top bit, but when designing my van with a high bed, I went to a MH show to try getting in & out of one
Getting in was easy, getting out required laying face down & sliding backwards towards the ladder

Whilst I normally only get up once a night for a wee, that design was abandoned immediately ?

Also, I am of the opinion there is little difference between a pop top and a tent - if the good lord had intended me too sleep in a tent, he wouldn't have invented motorhomes or hotels?
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Where's you sense of adventure ?, we only need a double bed and do not have the pop top two things about a pop top in general, the first is that its darker inside as there is no roof light in the rear/middle or bathroom. For us the experience with a T5 with a PoP top was that it tends to be damper it is canvas walls and if the weather is poor it just gets wet! Don't get me wrong a T5/T6 is great for short breaks but 2-3 weeks they get tiring if the weather is poor and I suspect the same would be for any Pop top
 
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Many years ago we had a vw caravette with a pop up roof, not quite the same as the hymer, but we only used the top bunks for the kids who were both under 11 years old, so quite light. It was noisier with the roof up and a bit cooler in the summer,. It was handy to keep things in overnight when it was wet and we couldn't keep them outside securely. I would assume its more like sleeping in a tent and if your happy with that and are agile enough then it shouldn't be an issue.
Best of luck. (y)
 
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In summer, abroad and here, it's lovely sleeping in the roof bed.

Depending on the van, when the roof bed is down there is a lot more insulation, you have the bed and mattress as well.

You need to be quite agile getting up there though, if you can climb a small ladder then you are fine.
 
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Coolcats said:
As an example the Hymer Grand Canyon is a Mercedes Sprinter and available with a PoP Top, to me all these PoP Tops are like climbing in to the loft climb the ladder and place your ass carefully on the bed, I'm sure they are all the same.

The only way to know if this is for you is to try one

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We are seriously considering a Hymer Sprinter. Have you got one? We just don't know how it's going to work with us both in a transverse bed downstairs. Thought the option of having another bed upstairs might be needed.
 
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CazPaul said:
In summer, abroad and here, it's lovely sleeping in the roof bed.

Depending on the van, when the roof bed is down there is a lot more insulation, you have the bed and mattress as well.

You need to be quite agile getting up there though, if you can climb a small ladder then you are fine.
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We'd be fine getting up. It's the physics of how do you actually get in to your own position on the bed. Heads are at the front where the ladder is so how do two of us actually manage to do that and how does someone (esp the one furthest away from the ladder) manage to get to the ladder without standing on the other person's head :oops:. As we can only look online at the moment all information is really welcome. Thanks
 
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I think the main problem is that it turns the van into a 2 or at the most a 3 season van. OK I suppose you could run the heating all night but with the lack of insulation up there you will get through a fair bit of gas. If you want a 4 season van it really needs to be a hard top.

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Sounds like solely a pop up is not great.

Our thinking at the moment is VW Grand California 600 does not have a pop up so we probably should disregard (and it doesn't seem like there are any options to buy here anyway)

The other option is the Hymer Merc Sprinter (which does have an option of a pop up).

We would both like to sleep in the "ground floor" but Mr Kiddo is 6ft tall and although I have reminded him of him crawling over me to get to the loo in my small double bed many years ago, it's not so romantic now and we kind of would like the option of either, both of us being on the ground floor (or first floor) or when appropriate some of our stuff being up on 1st floor or if we can't stand both of us being on the ground floor and the palaver of night time trips then one of us going upstairs.
 
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Lenny HB said:
I think the main problem is that it turns the van into a 2 or at the most a 3 season van. OK I suppose you could run the heating all night but with the lack of insulation up there you will get through a fair bit of gas. If you want a 4 season van it really needs to be a hard top.
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Thanks, probably want a 3 season van - although in better times 4 season - heading to South of Spain etc.
 
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Beatrix Kiddo said:
Has anyone slept in a Hymer Sprinter pop up? Spent a long time searching you tube etc and haven't seen anyone climbing up that ladder and getting in there. Thank you.
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Not in a Hymer, but in a VW T4. You would think that was smaller, but I have a suspicion that the 'upstairs' in a Hymer pop-top isn't quite as big as you might expect & the access might not be as easy as a VW either. I'm going on a hazy memory of looking at one at a show a couple of years ago.

But as to pop-tops in general, I've found them ok to sleep in, although I always slept downstairs with the top down in the middle of winter. The downstairs 'double' (ha, ha) in the T4 was decidedly cosy. Fine for young love but not so good if you actually wanted a good night's sleep. Lots more room up top - actually wider than the lower berth, but I only ever slept alone up there. OH uses a wheelchair, so no prospect of her ever getting up there. You do need most of your joints & muscles to be in working order to get into most of them.

The strongest argument for a pop-top is usually that you can then get the van under height barriers. But the Sprinter won't fit under with the roof down, so no advantage to be had there.
 
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Beatrix Kiddo said:
We are seriously considering a Hymer Sprinter. Have you got one? We just don't know how it's going to work with us both in a transverse bed downstairs. Thought the option of having another bed upstairs might be needed.
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Interestingly we looked at a Grand Canyon S and thought that's what we were going to settle on, it slightly narrower than the Fiat Chassis, both have pro's and cons. As you will be aware the Mercedes is narrower which is why they have pods on the sleeping area. Eventually we settled on an Ayres Rock and absolutely love it. in the end if we had of gone for a Grand Canyon it would have been the Fiat version £ for £ you are getting much the same thing except you save about £10K on the base vehicle if your buying new, and as we are discovering the Fiat is a great base vehicle with full factory support for the MoHo Market.

Regarding the PoP Top if we had needed a 3rd or 4th bed then we would have gone for a non PVC the lifting roof inhibits the skylights which are a nice thing to have just makes it like any other MoHo and gives the ability for air circulation etc. If ever we need to have occasional beds then a Tent will do :)

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Lenny HB said:
I think the main problem is that it turns the van into a 2 or at the most a 3 season van. OK I suppose you could run the heating all night but with the lack of insulation up there you will get through a fair bit of gas. If you want a 4 season van it really needs to be a hard top.
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But that's only if you have the pop top up though, when it's down its a warm van, as PVCs go. Not as warm as a good A class.

I agree if you are using it on winter to sleep 3 it's no good. In summer though the same or better than any PVC

I think also the roof bed is only suitable for 1 as well unless children or 2 7stone adults.
 
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Beatrix Kiddo said:
We are seriously considering a Hymer Sprinter. Have you got one? We just don't know how it's going to work with us both in a transverse bed downstairs. Thought the option of having another bed upstairs might be needed.
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We have the same van as Coolcats , a Hymer Ayers Rock. 5.4m Ducato conversion - when we were looking at our van we did look inside a pop top as those seem to be the ones they're advertising heavily (for a family of 4!). They were dark inside due to not having the roof lights which we have, and I wonder what they'd be like in the kind of wind we had today when we went to the coast and were up on the cliffs. It was gusting so hard that we could only open the side door with Mark pulling from the outside and me pushing from inside!
 
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Beatrix Kiddo said:
Sounds like solely a pop up is not great.

Our thinking at the moment is VW Grand California 600 does not have a pop up so we probably should disregard (and it doesn't seem like there are any options to buy here anyway)

The other option is the Hymer Merc Sprinter (which does have an option of a pop up).

We would both like to sleep in the "ground floor" but Mr Kiddo is 6ft tall and although I have reminded him of him crawling over me to get to the loo in my small double bed many years ago, it's not so romantic now and we kind of would like the option of either, both of us being on the ground floor (or first floor) or when appropriate some of our stuff being up on 1st floor or if we can't stand both of us being on the ground floor and the palaver of night time trips then one of us going upstairs.
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I'm also 6ft tall and the one who has to get up in the night for the loo, as it happens my "side" of the bed is the nearest to the bathroom so I can get out easily and usually don't disturb Mark (or the dogs sleeping in the dinette area). In our previous van I was on the wrong side and had to wake Mark and move dogs and their beds to get to the loo and then reverse the process on the way back.

Our bed is a small double, wider at the top than the bottom, 2 normal pillows exactly fit side by side at the head end with the feet having less space but we sleep well in the van.
 
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I would certainly miss the ventilation option of 3 roof vents that we have on the Ducato. You feel safer at night with those open rather than the side windows right by your head when sleeping. I guess though that depends on whether you will be wild camping.
A couple of people have mentioned noise, a friend stayed on our drive once in her Toyota poptop. She said she couldn’t sleep because of the road noise, the nearest main road is at least 1/2 mile away!
I know that you are itching to get something but I can only caution you to wait until you have had the chance to get in them and try them out.
 
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